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Randy Gradishar believes Von Miller has what it takes for NFL award

With two games to go in the regular season Broncos linebacker Von Miller is second in the league in sacks with 16, tied for third in the league in forced fumbles with six and second in tackles for loss with 25.

Those numbers, along with the Broncos' 11-3 record and No. 4 ranking in total defense as well as No. 2 ranking against the run, put Miller squarely in the discussion for the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year honors. Houston's J.J. Watt, who is tied for the league lead in sacks with 19.5 and leads the league in tackles for loss with 33 - eight ahead of Miller at the moment - would seem to have nudged his way into the lead.

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But Miller is right there with the Browns on the docket Sunday and the Chiefs in the regular-season finale, both at home, both in games the Broncos will need to play to maintain their current No. 2 seed in the AFC bracket.

Just one Broncos player has ever won the league's Defensive Player of the Year award - Randy Gradishar in 1978.

That year Gradishar finished with 286 tackles, still a single-season franchise record, to go with four interceptions and two fumble recoveries. The Broncos were second in the league in scoring defense in '78, just behind the league-leading Steelers.

The Broncos had five players from the defense named to the Pro Bowl that season - Gradishar, defensive tackle Lyle Alzado, linebacker Tom Jackson, safety Billy Thompson and cornerback Louis Wright.

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Overall, the Broncos finished 10-6 that season, won the AFC West and lost in the AFC Divisional game in Pittsburgh to close out the year. The Steelers went on to win the third of their four Super Bowls in a six-year span.

But Gradishar thinks Miller has what it takes to be the second player to take home the trophy as the league's defensive MVP, but he also thinks no matter how it goes this won't be Miller's peak as a player. That Miller plays a pass-rushing position in a time when teams value edge rushers more than virtually every player on the field other than franchise quarterback.

"What Von is doing will certainly get him noticed, but the environment is so much different now in terms of coverage and what people can see on the highlights with every team now days," Gradishar said. "During my career, I think, sometimes playing here, people may not have seen you play from all over the country until the playoffs got going. It's not that way now.

"But you watch Von play and he's impacting games at important times. And even if he doesn't get a sack or make the tackle, he's affecting how offenses do things. The Broncos are winning, so there's that, it's just a matter if the timing is right with the people voting on the award. But no matter how it goes, Von is so young, the award if he does or doesn't win it, won't define how he progresses as a player."

The Denver Post's NFL reporters post analysis, notes and more on this blog focusing on the Denver Broncos.

Gradishar pointed to his own career. The Broncos went to the franchise's first Super Bowl in 1977, this fourth season, and he won the Defensive Player of the Year award in his fifth seasons.

He played five more years, 10 in all, and when asked if '78 was his best year or the year he was simply honored as the league's best defensive player, Gradishar said;

"My approach was always that my curve was moving up, that I wasn't leveling off. So, I would say that even though that's the year I won the award, I honestly believe I became a better player after that year.

"I think I learned more about the game, improved my techniques. It was my fifth year of 10, so looking back on it, I would believe that I became a better player, that it was not my best year. And if Von wins it, or doesn't win it, I don't think this will be his best year. He has a very, very bright future for the Broncos."

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